The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to go ahead with a rebidding for the two mega power projects, Bara and Karchchana, which are to be set up in Allahabad. While the Bara project would generate 1980 mw of power, Karchana would generate 1320 mw.
It may be mentioned that the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation (UPPCL) had earlier decided to grant both the bids to Lanco as the tariff for power quoted by the company was the lowest among all the nine bidders who had bid for the two projects. The UPPCL?s decision was to be cleared by the energy task force (ETF) before being given a go ahead by the state cabinet. However, in the meeting called by the ETF, it was said that though the tariff quoted by Lanco were the lowest, they were still very high and needed to be reduced. According, UPPCL officials tried to talk it out with the Lanco officials to reduce the bids, but sources in the energy department state that it did not work out and so the ETF finally proposed a reduced rebidding process to be taken and the same has been cleared by the state cabinet.
The cabinet has now decided that it will not invite fresh bidding for the two projects, but rather call for a re-bidding between all the nine contenders who had earlier applied for the projects, would take place. For this process to take place, the UPPCL will now move an application to the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission to seek the regulator?s permission. According to UPPCL officials, they will ask the commission for at least a fortnight?s time for the renewed process.
It may be recalled that for the Bara project, Lanco had earlier quoted Rs 1.93/unit for the first year and Rs 2.88 variable rate thereafter. For Karchchana, the first year?s rate was Rs 1.74 and the variable rate thereafter Rs 2.83. The two units have a combined thermal capacity of 3300 mw. The nine companies which had bid for the two projects earlier were Lanco Infratech, Torrent Power, Reliance Power, Larsen and Tubro, GMR Energy, Jindal Steel and Power, JSW Energy, CESC and the NTPC.